The invention relates generally to the opening of bivalve shellfish, and more particularly to an improved opening knife with blade offset from handle and angularly disposed thereto.
The prior art discloses bivalve shellfish openers Huppman, U.S. Pat. No. 411,381 and Arthur, U.S. Pat. No. 1,352,108 that teach a sharp blade in combination with a hammer, both being mounted in longitudinal continuation to a handle end; Lum and Sanford, U.S. Pat. No. 177,138 that teaches pincers with jaws to break open or break away shell edges, and a sharp blade mounted in longitudinal extension of a free end of one of the pincer jaws to cut the shellfish free of shells broken open by the jaws; and Coangelo, U.S. Pat. No. 2,854,688 that teaches a shell punch fixed in one end of a handle and a hook shaped blade fixed in the other handle end. In all of these, bivalve shells are broken to admit a sharp blade for cutting shells free of shellfish thereby introducing shell fragments into the shellfish.
The invention teaches a two edged pointed blade offset from a handle for increasing leverage in forcing apart shells, and angularly disposed thereto for the blade to be in the alignment with the forearm of a user, when the handle is normally grasped, for ease of insertion of blade between bivalve shells with no component of inserting force normal thereto to increase hand to handle friction and tire and blister operator's hand.